Former Facebook executives raise concerns over platform's effect on society

Posted: Wed 3:56 PM, Dec 13, 2017

(CBS) -- Two former Facebook executives are raising concern about the effect the social media platform they helped create may be having on us.

"The short-term dopamine driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation misinformation, mistruth," says former executive Chamath Palihapitiya.

Palihapitiya used to be in charge of user growth. Former Facebook president, Sean Parker is also concerned. He admits the initial goal was to get people hooked.

"You're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology. The inventors, creators -it's me, Mark, it's Kevin System on Instagram, it's all of these people - understood this consciously. And we did it anyway," he says.

Studies show 92% of teens go online daily and 1 in 5 young people regularly wake up in the night to send or check messages on social media.

"We're not suggesting the leaders of tech companies are evil, but they in many cases have ignored the consequences of some of the downsides of the innovations they brought to our society," says Common Sense Media president Jim Steyer.

Facebook issued a statement that says in part: "We've done a lot of work and research with outside experts and academics to understand the effects of our service on well-being, and we're using it to inform our product development. ...as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call - we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made."

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